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On today’s edition of Coffee and Markets, Brad Jackson and Ben Domenech are joined by Francis Cianfrocca to discuss a new German push to politically unite Europe to save the Eurozone, Obama’s decision to kill 20,000 jobs, and we respond to a question from a listener.

We’re brought to you as always by BigGovernment and Stephen Clouse and Associates. If you’d like to email us, you can do so at coffee[at]newledger.com. We hope you enjoy the show.

Related Links:

Germany’s secret plans to derail a British referendum on the EU
Debt Crisis Shows Angela Merkel Is the Boss
European Bank Chief Urges Action on Rescue Fund
Obama Abandons (Private) Labor

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From AFP:

US health officials on Friday revoked the authorization of Roche’s Avastin for breast cancer treatment, saying it concluded the drug had “not been shown to be safe and effective for that use.”

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As the “Occupy” movement draws to a close, I think it’s time to take a loot at it’s funniest moments. Sure, the rape, theft and violent crime may have put a damper on things for a while but in order to maintain our sanity, it’s our duty to find the humor in all situations. Plus, who doesn’t like watching a hippie-felon get roughed up?

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It would be a great tragedy if a super tax hike came out of a supercommittee compromise deal. It would do great harm to the economy — just as much harm as President Obama’s various tax-hike threats. And on the Republican side, a super tax hike would irreparably split the GOP.

Okay. Here’s the good news. In a CNBC interview this week, I asked supercommittee co-chair Jeb Hensarling about an idea of the Democrats to raise taxes by $600 billion to $800 billion. About $300 billion of that might be up-front, with $500 billion later from some tax-reform overhaul. This would be an unmitigated economic disaster.

But Hensarling was blunt: “Not going to happen, Larry.” He said no such deal has been presented to him. And if it were, he and other Republicans on the supercommittee would not support it.

Hensarling then added, “We put $250 billion of what is known as static revenue on the table, but only if we can bring down rates. We believe we can bring the top individual rate down to 28, 29, maybe at most 30 percent, and bring the corporate rate down to the median of the EU, 25 percent.” For emphasis, he said, “We have gone as far as we feel we can go.”

The Texan was referring to the Sen. Pat Toomey plan, which would lower the personal tax rate to 28 percent and head down from there, while at the same time putting limits on personal deductions (such as mortgage interest) for upper-income taxpayers. In other words, flatten the rates and broaden the base.

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Just days after Occupy Wall Street (OWS) protesters were cleared out of New York’s privately owned Zuccotti Park, OWS protests were held across the country in a show of solidarity.

Unlike other municipal authorities who have grown tired of the Occupy movement, the Los Angeles City Council still maintains its open invitation to the protesters to occupy City Hall’s lawn.

But on November 17, OWS protesters left their lawn and took to the streets, first blocking downtown traffic during rush hour and later, when they marched to the doorsteps of Bank of America and Wells Fargo.

Reason.tv was on the scene for the march to the banks and captured some of the day’s 26 arrests. Violence was minimal, as purple-shirted organizers of the march from the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) worked to keep most protesters out of the street.

While most of the protesters were exercised by the economy and government bailouts, at least one participant’s main beef seemed to be with Satan, “Grey Aliens” (who are controlled by “the Reptilians”), and the Illimunati (starts at 2-minute mark).

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The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) internal document excerpted below supports the allegation that Obama appointee John Lund has told union officials to ignore federal investigators and deal with him personally.  His actions irreversibly taint criminal investigations and subvert employee protections in favor of union bosses, while raising the prestige of his labor consultant team in Wisconsin.

Above is the internal OLMS Regional Director meeting minutes that confirm what my source has been telling me. (PGHDO = Pittsburgh District Office)  What Lund is doing, is much more than fixing parking tickets; he is interfering with potentially serious criminal charges.

As Office of Labor-Management Standards (OLMS) Director, Lund heads the office primarily responsible for criminal investigations regarding union embezzlement. A union’s failure to file its union financial disclosure report in a timely manner automatically prompts a series of actions taken by the DOL personnel. A financial report delinquent more than 90 days is usually followed-up personally by DOL investigators.  But, ‘former’ labor union consultant Lund has short-circuited normal procedures; he is literally telling union officials “not to deal with OLMS investigators” and “send the reports directly to” him.

The office Lund heads is responsible for investigating and reviewing union financial reports and union official conflict-of-interest disclosures. The office functions somewhat similar to the   Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) but for unions rather than businesses.

If you will, imagine Lund as an SEC Director, giving corporations the same instructions do “not to deal with SEC investigators, just deal with me directly.”   Congress and the Inspector General would rush to investigate, and the media would provide full coverage of every detail.  Speculation would be rife within the media, and generate frequent headlines.  The union officials who went see Lund would be under the microscope as well as their unions. Their financial records for the past decade would be reviewed and each questionable trip to Las Vegas or Australia would be questioned.

More importantly, union members and those forced to pay dues to these unions would likely be painted as victims that they are.  Perhaps the press would even look back at the last three years of union disclosure elimination that John Lund has orchestrated that has no benefit for the rank-and-file.  No, Lund has been systematically dismantling union financial disclosure and union boss conflict-of-interest reporting to the benefit of his union boss clients. (more…)

Lisa Martinez was forced to shut down her businesses or face five years in prison.   Her crime?   Teeth whitening.

This week, Lisa and others are fighting back in a big way:

In 2008, Lisa opened Connecticut White Smile in the Crystal Mall in Waterford, Conn., where she sold an over-the-counter whitening product and provided a clean, comfortable place for customers to apply the product to their own teeth, just as they would at home.

As it turns out, teeth-whitening services are popular and increasingly available at spas, salons and shopping malls all across the country. People are so eager to use these services because they provide great results at a fraction of the cost that dentists charge.

As Lisa puts it:

My customers loved my convenient location and affordable prices.  Owning my own business gave me a flexible schedule that allowed me to spend more time with my family.

Unfortunately, as happens all too often, happy customers + happy entrepreneurs = unhappy special interests.

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Just as Obama originally encouraged and has continued to be supportive of the increasingly troubling and destructive Occupy movement, many of his fellow Democrats are following suit.

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s (I) decision to evict Occupy Wall Street protesters from a Lower Manhattan park is a blow to free speech, several House Democrats said.

Even the Washington Post is now pointing out the many disturbing crimes linked to the movement, including multiple deaths. As it’s done from the start, Big Government has continued to track same, the rap sheet currently totals over 250 significant incidents. Yet, Democrats like Charlie Rangel, Jerry Nadler, Rep. Raúl Grijalva (D-Ariz.), co-chairman of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, along with many other prominent Democrats in Congress continue to side with what the Post suggested is more an “infestation,” than it is an occupation.

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The latest poll out of Iowa has Newt Gingrich opening up a double-digit lead. We’ll see if this latest anti-Romney flavor can last.

Ramiro Ortega-Hernandez, the prime suspect for the White House shooting has been charged with an attempt to assassinate President Obama.

Friday, November 11th was the day of the shooting. Authorities have described the shooter as a man in black, who was obsessed with President Obama. The man pulled an assault rifle, fired from his car, and successfully cracked a window in the First Family’s living quarters.

The alleged car of the shooter was found abandoned on a bridge on its way out of Virginia. An assault rifle was found within the car, and investigators were led to Ortega by this evidence.

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From The Wall Street Journal:

Mark Twain famously wrote, “There is no distinctly native American criminal class except Congress.” Peter Schweizer’s new book, “Throw Them All Out,” reveals this permanent political class in all its arrogant glory. (Full disclosure: Mr. Schweizer is employed by my political action committee as a foreign-policy adviser.)

Mr. Schweizer answers the questions so many of us have asked. I addressed this in a speech in Iowa last Labor Day weekend. How do politicians who arrive in Washington, D.C. as men and women of modest means leave as millionaires? How do they miraculously accumulate wealth at a rate faster than the rest of us? How do politicians’ stock portfolios outperform even the best hedge-fund managers’? I answered the question in that speech: Politicians derive power from the authority of their office and their access to our tax dollars, and they use that power to enrich and shield themselves.

The money-making opportunities for politicians are myriad, and Mr. Schweizer details the most lucrative methods: accepting sweetheart gifts of IPO stock from companies seeking to influence legislation, practicing insider trading with nonpublic government information, earmarking projects that benefit personal real estate holdings, and even subtly extorting campaign donations through the threat of legislation unfavorable to an industry. The list goes on and on, and it’s sickening.

Astonishingly, none of this is technically illegal, at least not for Congress. Members of Congress exempt themselves from the laws they apply to the rest of us. That includes laws that protect whistleblowers (nothing prevents members of Congress from retaliating against staffers who shine light on corruption) and Freedom of Information Act requests (it’s easier to get classified documents from the CIA than from a congressional office).

The corruption isn’t confined to one political party or just a few bad apples. It’s an endemic problem encompassing leadership on both sides of the aisle. It’s an entire system of public servants feathering their own nests.

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Citizens of Alabama’s 6th congressional district, represented by Republican Spencer Bachus, made their voices heard today when they brought megaphones, signs and opinions to his district office.

Many constituents are upset by information released in the new book Throw Them All Out by Peter Schweizer, and the ensuing segment on 60 Minutes exposing insider trading and short selling by Rep. Bachus, among others.

“The idea is to be honest, and police our own, because we are the Party that does it right,” said one demonstrator, “we don’t want election time to come around in 2012 and figure out then that people won’t vote for conservatives because of what one bad player did. We want to keep our name clean. We are the party of ethics, and whether Congress wants to admit it is illegal or not, it is wrong. Conservatives know the difference.”

Upon protestors’ entry into the building, they were told that they would not be allowed to assemble on the grounds of the Congressman’s office, and that they should go across the street. They stayed, and were peaceful. They agreed not to wave their signs, or shout, or disrupt the peace in any way, with one protestor commenting to security, “We aren’t the Occupiers, we are the Tea Party, for crying out loud.”

Alabama realizes that the scope of what happens here extends far beyond our state, and that this is a fully national story now. We want to set an example, as a constituency willing to police our own, and demonstrators discussed many reasons why this particular Congressman needs to go, in addition to those reasons mentioned in the media today. (more…)

Rep. Spencer Bachus (R-AL), under pressure from conservatives, liberals, and his own constituents, has announced that the House Financial Services Committee, which he chairs, will hold hearings on Dec. 6 to consider legislation to prevent insider trading by members of Congress.

From Breitbart.tv:

Both the House and the Senate are now planning hearings on congressional insider trading, following exposés by Breitbart editor Peter Schweizer in his new book, Throw Them All Out. (more…)

At least ten members of President Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign finance committee, plus more than a dozen of his campaign bundlers, benefited from sweetheart loans through the Department of Energy (DOE) that collectively dwarfed those given to Solyndra and Fisker.

Investigative journalist Peter Schweizer, who is also a Breitbart editor, reveals the full extent of the DOE scandal in his explosive new book, Throw Them All Out. The book is featured in this week’s Newsweek, and was the subject of 60 Minutes this past Sunday, Nov. 13.

Schweizer’s research reveals that of the $20.5 billion in the DOE’s 1705 Loan Guarantee Program, $16.4 billion in taxpayer money–roughly 80% of all loans in the program–went to green enterprises “either run by or heavily owned by Obama financial backers–individuals who were either bundlers, members of Obama’s national finance committee or large donors to the Democratic Party.”

In 2009, President Obama had promised that the allocation of all federal stimulus monies would be nonpartisan, ethical, and fair. “Let me repeat that: Decisions about how Recovery money will be spent will be based on the merits. They will not be made as a way of doing favors for lobbyists,” Obama said.

However, Schweizer alleges, the Obama administration may be guilty of “the greatest–and most expensive–example of crony capitalism in American history.” (more…)

In an interview at The Heritage Foundation, Texas Senator John Cornyn had strong words for President Obama. “Unfortunately the President is already out complaining trying to channel Harry Truman, railing against a “Do Nothing Congress”, when he has apparently given up on governing and has decided to campaign full-time and he’s not really contributing towards the solution.”

Cornyn (R-TX) was at Heritage to stress the importance of enacting the strongest possible Balanced Budget Amendment, one that caps federal spending at 18 percent of the economy and requires a super-majority vote in Congress to increase taxes.

During his interview, Cornyn gave a brief overview of that fight:

Starting in the House this week they will vote on a Balanced Budget Amendment. And then before the end of the year, we are guaranteed by the provisions of the Budget Control Act a vote in the Senate. I expect there will be two votes. One on what I call the “strong” version that 47 Republicans have co-sponsored and another on one that will, honestly, be more in the nature of a cover vote.for Democrats up for election in 2012.

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From Reuters:

Chu, a bookish physicist and Nobel laureate, took full responsibility for decisions on the loan, but did not apologize. He said his department did its due diligence on the risks, and was not influenced by Solyndra investor George Kaiser, an Obama donor.

He tried to give long and detailed answers, irking Republicans running the hearing.

“I don’t want you to take all of my time – can you just give a really short answer?” said Cliff Stearns, the Florida Republican who has led the committee’s probe.

Republicans argue the government could have pulled the plug earlier, but instead restructured the deal.

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Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis called a press conference yesterday to go on the offensive and attempt to blame our organization, Education Action Group, for the ugly words she recently uttered at a conference for union activists.

On Monday, EAG released a video of three extended excerpts from her October speech, which included her ridicule of U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan over his speech impediment.  It created a media firestorm.

In an attempt to do damage control, Lewis said, “…I implore you to look at the entire 35-minute video and to listen to the entire speech so you can make a decision for yourself without the filter of right-wing pundits and anti-public education, media-savvy operatives.”

We did and it’s just as ugly as what has already been highlighted.

At the 12:31 mark of the original video, she attempts to smear Chicago school board members Henry Bienen and Penny Pritzker. She said Bienen, a former president of Northwestern University, was on the board of Bear Stearns “when it crashed.” She said Pritzker owns Hyatt hotels, a chain she claims “won’t pay her cleaning ladies a living wage.”

“These are the people we’re dealing with,” Lewis said about the board members.

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This morning, Breitbart editor Peter Schweizer appeared on MSNBC’s Morning Joe to discuss his new book, Throw Them All Out, which has shaken Washington to its core in the past few days. The battle over insider trading in Congress has set up a confrontation between bipartisan reformers on the one hand, and defenders of the insider-trading status quo on the other.

In the course of the interview, Schweizer responded to Rep. Spencer Bachus (R-GA), chair of the House Committee on Financial Services, who is fighting calls for his resignation. As it has become clear that the insider trading scandal is not going away, Rep. Bachus has abandoned his early reticence in favor of a more aggressive defense.

Schweizer, who was joined on the show by Steve Kroft of CBS, reiterated his case against insider trading in Congress:

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Bachus seems to be fighting a losing battle, as momentum for reform builds in Washington. Even Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA), the ranking member on Bachus’s committee–who belatedly discovered his enthusiasm for reforming Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac when facing a serious public backlash and a tough re-election–is now calling upon Bachus to join efforts to pass the STOCK (Stop Trading On Congressional Knowledge) Act.

Big Government has obtained a letter that Rep. Frank sent to Rep. Bachus urging him to support the STOCK Act–”which, I acknowledge, should have been addressed when I was the Chairman.”

Rep. Bachus’s letter to Schweizer’s publisher is posted below, followed by Schweizer’s response, and by Rep. Frank’s letter to Rep. Bachus.

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Just when you thought you’ve seen it all from the “Occupiers,” last night Occupy San Diego held a moment of silence “for the guy who shot at the White House” during a protest outside of the San Diego Police Department headquarters.

(Apologies for the bad video quality; this seems to be the only version out there.)

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